Adapter

ABSTRACT

A television adapter includes first and second conversion circuits, a switch unit, and a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI). The first conversion circuit includes a digital to analog (D/A) converter and a coupler. The second conversion circuit includes an analog to digital (A/D) converter and a decoupler. When the switch unit connects the first conversion circuit to the first HDMI, the D/A converter converts a first digital signal from the HDMI into a first analog form data. The coupler couples the first analog form data to a first alternating current (AC) voltage. When the switch unit connects the second conversion circuit to a second HDMI, the decoupler decouples and separates a second AC voltage into a second analog form data. The A/D converter converts the second analog form data into a second digital signal, and outputs the second digital signal to the second HDMI.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Relevant subject matter is disclosed in the co-pending U.S. patentapplications (Attorney Docket Nos. US42532, US42533, US42534, US42535,US42536, US42537, US42538, US42539, US42541, and US42542) having thesame title and assigned to the same assignee as named herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to adapters, and particularly, to atelevision adapter.

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

When high definition videos from a set-top box are shared by manytelevisions, a high definition conversion device needs to be connectedto each television through cables to share the high definition videosfrom the top box of the digital machine to the televisions. This isinconvenient.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Many aspects of the present embodiments can be better understood withreference to the following drawings. The components in the drawing arenot necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed uponclearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover,in the drawings, all the views are schematic, and like referencenumerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an exemplary embodiment of a televisionadapter, wherein the television adapter includes a voltage conversioncircuit.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the television adapter of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the voltage conversion circuit of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the television adapter communicating withanother two television adapters and a set-top box.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the systems of FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The disclosure, including the accompanying drawings in which likereferences indicate similar elements, is illustrated by way of exampleand not by way of limitation. It should be noted that references to “an”or “one” embodiment in this disclosure are not necessarily to the sameembodiment, and such references mean at least one.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 4, an embodiment of a television adapter 100includes an enclosure 10, an alternating current (AC) power plug 20, ahigh-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) 30, a first conversioncircuit 40, a second conversion circuit 50, a switch unit 60, and avoltage conversion circuit 200. The AC power plug 20 is mounted on theenclosure 10 to be connected to an AC power socket 70. The HDMI 30 ismounted on the enclosure 10 to be connected to a television 80 or aset-top box 500. The switch unit 60 is connected between the HDMI 30 andeach of the first and second conversion circuits 40 and 50, to connecteither the first conversion circuit 40 or the second conversion circuit50 to the HDMI 30. When the set-top box 500 connected to the televisionadapter 100 functions as a signal transmission terminal, the switch unit60 connects the first conversion circuit 40 to the HDMI 30. When thetelevision 80 connected to the television adapter 100 functions as asignal receiving terminal, the switch unit 60 connects the secondconversion circuit 50 to the HDMI 30. In the embodiment, the switch unit60 is a manual switch.

The first conversion circuit 40 includes a compression control chip 41,a digital to analog (D/A) converter 42, a coupler 43, and a first ACfilter 44. The second conversion circuit 50 includes a decompressioncontrol chip 51, an analog to digital (A/D) converter 52, a decoupler53, and a second AC filter 54.

The compression control chip 41 is connected to the switch unit 60. TheD/A converter 42 is connected between the compression control chip 41and the coupler 43. The coupler 43 is connected to the AC power plug 20through the first AC filter 44. The AC power plug 20 is also connectedto the decoupler 53 through the second AC filter 54. The A/D converter52 is connected between the decoupler 53 and the decompression controlchip 51. The decompression control chip 51 is connected to the switchunit 60.

The voltage conversion circuit 200 includes a third AC filter 210, analternating current to direct current (AC/DC) converter 220, a voltageadjustor 230, and a DC filter 240. In view of the likelihood of randomnoise in the AC voltage, the third AC filter 210 is connected to the ACpower plug 20 to receive the AC voltage, and filters the noise from theAC voltage. The AC/DC converter 220 is connected between the third ACpower filter 210 and the voltage adjustor 230, to convert the AC voltageinto a DC voltage, and output the DC voltage to the voltage adjustor230. The voltage adjustor 230 adjusts the received DC voltage. In viewof the possibility of random noise in the adjusted DC voltage, the DCfilter 240 is connected between the voltage adjustor 230 and the HDMI 30to filter the noise from the adjusted DC voltage and output the filteredDC voltage to the HDMI 30, to power the television 80 or the set-top box500 connected to the HDMI 30.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, an example describing a working principle ofthe television adapter 100. A first television adapter 101 is insertedinto a first AC power socket 71 in a first room 300. A second televisionadapter 102 is inserted into a second AC power socket 72 in a secondroom 400. A third television adapter 103 is inserted into a third ACpower socket 73 in the second room 400. The first AC power socket 71 isconnected to the second and third AC power sockets 72 and 73 through acommercial AC power line 90. The first to third television adapters101-103 have the same function and structure as the above-mentionedaudio device adapter 100. A first television 81 is connected to the HDMI30 of the first television adapter 101 in the first room 300. A secondtelevision 82 is connected to the HDMI 30 of the second televisionadapter 102 in the second room 400. The set-top box 500 is connected tothe HDMI 30 of the third television adapter 103 in the second room 400.

When the set-top box 500 in the second room 400 functioning as a signaltransmission terminal communicates with the second television 82 in thesecond room 400 functioning as a signal receiving terminal and the firsttelevision 81 in the first room 300 functioning as a signal receivingterminal, the switch unit 60 of the third television adapter 103 isswitched to connect the first conversion circuit 40 to the HDMI 30 ofthe third television adapter 103, the switch unit 60 of the secondtelevision adapter 102 is switched to connect the second conversioncircuit 50 to the HDMI 30 of the second television adapter 102, and theswitch unit 60 of the first television adapter 101 is switched toconnect the second conversion circuit 50 to the HDMI 30 of the firsttelevision adapter 101.

The set-top box 500 outputs a digital signal representing audio andvideo data to the HDMI 30 of the third television adapter 103. Thecompression control chip 41 of the third television adapter 103 receivesthe digital signal representing audio and video data through the switchunit 60, compresses the digital signal representing audio and video datainto one or more data packets, and outputs the one or more data packetsto the D/A converter 42. The D/A converter 42 converts the one or moredata packets into an analog form (analog form data) suitable fortransmission over an AC voltage functioning as a carrier wave, andoutputs the analog form data to the coupler 43. The coupler 43 couplesthe analog form data to an AC voltage and outputs the AC voltage coupledwith the analog form data to the third AC power socket 73. The first ACfilter 44 filters noise from the AC voltage coupled with the analog formdata, and outputs the AC voltage coupled with the analog form data tothe commercial AC power line 90 through the AC power plug 20 and thethird AC power socket 73.

The commercial AC power line 90 transmits the AC voltage coupled withthe analog form data to the second AC filter 54 of the second televisionadapter 102 through the second AC power socket 72 and the AC power plug20 in the second room 400, and to the second AC filter 54 of the firsttelevision adapter 101 through the first AC power socket 71 and the ACpower plug 20 in the first room 300. The second filters 54 of the firstand second television adapters 102 and 103 filter any noise from the ACvoltage coupled with the analog form data, and output the filtered ACvoltage coupled with the analog form data to the decouplers 53 of thefirst and second television adapters 101 and 102. The decouplers 53 ofthe first and second television adapters 101 and 102 respectivelydecouple and separate the AC voltage coupled with the analog form datainto the AC voltage and the analog form data, and output the analog formdata to the corresponding A/D converters 52. The A/D converters 52 ofthe first and second television adapters 101 and 102 convert the analogform data into the one or more data packets, and output the one or moredata packets to the corresponding decompression control chips 51. Thedecompression control chips 51 of the first and second televisionadapters 101 and 102 respectively decompress the one or more datapackets into the digital signal representing audio and video data, andrespectively output the digital signal representing audio and video datato the first and second televisions 81 and 82 through the switch units60 and the HDMIs 30. Therefore, using the well-established domestic andcommercial AC supply system, the first television 81 in the first room300 and the second television 82 in the second room 400 can share thedigital signal representing audio and video data from the set-top box500 in the second room 400 through the commercial AC power line 90.

Although numerous characteristics and advantages of the embodiments havebeen set forth in the foregoing description, together with details ofthe structure and function of the embodiments, the disclosure isillustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in thematters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principlesof the embodiments to the full extent indicated by the broad generalmeaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.

What is claimed is:
 1. A television adapter, comprising: an alternatingcurrent (AC) power plug to be inserted into an AC power socket toreceive a first AC voltage; a high-definition multimedia interface(HDMI) to be connected to a television or a set-top box; a firstconversion circuit comprising a digital to analog (D/A) converter, and acoupler connected between the D/A converter and the AC power plug; asecond conversion circuit comprising an analog to digital (A/D)converter, and a decoupler connected between the A/D converter and theAC power plug; and a switch unit connected between the HDMI and each ofthe first conversion circuit and the second conversion circuit, toconnect either the first conversion circuit or the second conversioncircuit to the HDMI; wherein when the switch unit connects the firstconversion circuit to the HDMI, the D/A converter receives a firstdigital signal representing audio and video data output by the set-topbox through the HDMI, and converts the first digital signal representingaudio and video data into a first analog form data, the coupler couplesthe first analog form data to the first AC voltage, and outputs thefirst AC voltage coupled with the first analog form data to the AC powerplug, the AC power plug transmits the first AC voltage coupled with thefirst analog form data to an AC power line connected to the AC powersocket; and wherein when the switch unit connects the second conversioncircuit to the HDMI, the decoupler receives a second AC voltage coupledwith a second analog form data through the AC power plug from the ACpower line connected to the AC power socket, decouples and separates thesecond AC voltage coupled with the second analog form data into thesecond AC voltage and the second analog form data, and outputs thesecond analog form data to the A/D converter, the A/D converter convertsthe second analog form data into a second digital signal representingaudio and video data, and outputs the second digital signal representingaudio and video data to the television through the HDMI.
 2. Thetelevision adapter of claim 1, wherein the first conversion circuitfurther comprises a compression control chip, the compression controlchip is connected between the switch unit and the D/A converter toreceive the first digital signal representing audio and video data fromthe set-top box through the HDMI, compresses the first digital signalrepresenting audio and video data into a first data packet, and outputsthe first data packet to the D/A converter, the D/A converter convertsthe first data packet into the first analog form data; wherein thesecond conversion circuit further comprises a decompression controlchip, the decompression control chip is connected between the switchunit and the A/D converter to receive a second data packet from the ACpower line and decompress the second data packet into the second digitalsignal representing audio and video data, and outputs the second digitalsignal representing audio and video data to the HDMI through the switchunit.
 3. The television adapter of claim 1, wherein the first conversioncircuit further comprises an AC filter, the AC filter is connectedbetween the coupler and the AC power plug to filter the first AC voltagecoupled with the first analog form data output to the AC power line. 4.The television adapter of claim 1, wherein the second conversion circuitfurther comprises an AC filter, the AC filter is connected between thedecoupler and the AC power plug to filter the second AC voltage coupledwith the second analog form data from the AC power line.
 5. Thetelevision adapter of claim 4, further comprising a voltage conversioncircuit, wherein the voltage conversion circuit comprises an alternatingcurrent to direct current (AC/DC) converter and a voltage adjustor, theAC/DC converter is connected between the AC power plug and the voltageadjustor to receive the first AC voltage, converts the first AC voltageinto a DC voltage, and outputs the DC voltage to the voltage adjustor,the voltage adjustor adjusts the received DC voltage, and outputs theadjusted DC voltage to the HDMI to power the television or the set-topbox.